TikTok’s CEO to testify before Congress in March

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TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew will appear before the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee in March, as lawmakers looks to scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said on Monday.

Chew will testify before the committee on March 23, which will be his first appearance before a Congressional committee, McMorris Rodgers said in a statement.

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The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns.

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“ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data,” McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok said on Friday “calls for total bans of TikTok take a piecemeal approach to national security and a piecemeal approach to broad industry issues like data security, privacy, and online harms.”

McMorris Rodgers and other Republican lawmakers have demanded more information from TikTok, on its impact on young people amid concerns about harmful content and potential sexual exploitation of minors on the platform, the statement said.

TikTok has previously said it is focused on the safety of younger users and limits features by age. (Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Osmond and Alison Williams)